2020
Preakness Stakes

2020
Preakness Stakes

As the story goes, one late summer evening in 1868, an agreement among sportsmen to stage a special
race to commemorate a memorable occasion became the foundation for the middle jewel of racing’s Triple
Crown, the Preakness Stakes.

Governor Oden Bowie of Maryland, a horsemen and racing entrepreneur, was among the distinguished
roster of guests at an elegant dinner party after the races at the Union Hall Hotel in Saratoga given by
Milton H. Sanford. John Hunter of New York proposed that the feast be commemorated by a stake race to
be run in the fall of 1870 for three-year old colts and fillies at two miles, to be known as the Dinner Party
Stakes in honor of the evening. Bowie electrified the gathering by suggesting a purse of $15,000, which
was a staggering sum in 1870.

Governor Bowie requested that the Dinner Party Stakes be run in Maryland, and pledged to build a
new racetrack to host it. Hence, the idea for Pimlico Race Course was born, and in the fall of 1870, the
inaugural Dinner Party Stakes was run on Pimlico’s opening.

Bowie’s Dinner Party Stakes would later be run at Pimlico as the Dixie Handicap (now known as
the “Dixie”), and hold the honor of being the 8th oldest stakes race in America.

Two years before the Kentucky Derby would appear, Pimlico was busy introducing its new stakes race for
three-year olds, the Preakness, during its first-ever spring race meet in 1873. Governor Bowie had named
the mile and one-half race in honor of Dinner Party Stakes – winner, Preakness.

The scene was set for the first Preakness Stakes on May 15, 2021, a warm and muggy spring day
at Pimlico. The crowd, well aware of Bowie’s accomplishments in putting Baltimore on the national
Thoroughbred map, grew to 12,000 excited attendees. The violet-painted stands and the Victorian
Clubhouse, which survived until a fire destroyed it in 1966, were decorated with the Maryland Jockey
Club blue and white pennants. Entertainment was provided by Itzel’s Fifth Regiment Band, which played
operatic airs from Martha and Il Trovatore, and popular tunes of the day.

The first Preakness drew seven starters, but it was John Chamberlain’s three-year old, Survivor, who
galloped home easily by ten lengths to a purse of $2,050 to this day, the largest Preakness margin of
victory.

The new Preakness, off to a great start, prospered for the next 17 years. The early Preakness Stakes
attracted quality horses and good crowds; however, in 1889, due to changes in the racing industry, the
Preakness and Pimlico galloped to a halt. In 1890, the Preakness was run at Morris Park in New York.
The Maryland Jockey Club continued to be involved in racing by presenting some steeplechasing and
even trotting races at Pimlico, but the Preakness did not return home to Pimlico until 1909. During this
interval, the Preakness was run for 15 years at the Gravesend track in Brooklyn, New York. These 15

so-called “lost” Preaknesses were officially enrolled in the race history of the classic in 1948; the 1890
Preakness was added in the 1960′s.

Several traditions enjoyed today are attributed to the spontaneity of the 1909 Preakness renewal. For
example, the musical rendering of “Maryland My Maryland” began when a bugler, moved by the spirit of
the day, began playing Maryland’s historic state song. The rest of the band, inspired by the music, joined
in and the crowd reacted enthusiastically. In addition, Preakness 1909 also inaugurated the concept of
the “painting of the colors” atop the weather vane, to honor the winning horse.

From that day in 1909, the Preakness has run without a break each year at Pimlico, steadily growing in
popularity and purse value. It was once said that having the Preakness in Baltimore is like being able to
schedule the World Series or Super Bowl every year. The Preakness Stakes has remained throughout
history a true test of a horse’s ability and class, a race where remarkable horses meet one another other in a
great classic.

The phrase “Triple Crown” was not coined until the 1930′s, but it is this race on the third Saturday in May
where the best of the Derby horses gather to see if there will be that window of opportunity for a Triple
Crown prospect. Much goes on during this colorful time at Pimlico, but it has always been the horse that
draws the fans. As poet Ogden Nash wrote: “The Derby is a race of aristocratic sleekness, for horses of
birth to prove their worth to run in the Preakness.”

US Racing News

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